Metal Halide - Special Application

Updated25-VI-2006

Metal halide lamps have applications ranging far beyond the limits of general lighting, and over the past few decades this technology has been adapted into numerous other formats to suit the specific requirements of certain special niches.

One of the principal fields to embrace this lamp technology is the film and studio business, where very large amounts of high colour temperature light are required. Traditionally that light was provided on film sets by the carbon arc lamp until the 1970s, when short arc metal halide lamps began to take over. They offer higher luminous efficacy, improved colour rendering and longer lifetime than the carbon arc lamp. In recent years the metal halide lamp has also been adapted to vehicle lighting, and a new family of ultra compact lamp has been developed to suit that requirement.

New halide chemistries based on the rare earths were developed to mimic natural daylight as closely as possible, and arc tube developments were explored in both single and double ended designs. A number of lamps having integrated optical control have also been developed over the years, and also featured on this page are types having special arc tube chemistries, for instance to suit certain ultraviolet applications in the photoprinting and photopolymerisation businesses.